Americans will eat more than 1.3 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday



Even with the Seahawks not making an appearance in this year’s Super Bowl more than 100 million people will still pick up the remote and watch the game. And that means snacking, celebrating and possibly drowning your sorrows at some point.

Potato chips and Cheez-Its aside, it’s estimated that Americans will eat more than 1.3 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday. So we went to the local pros to get some tips on the best way to serve up these messy snacks. Because the mighty chicken wing is the quintessential football feast.

“Per last year we went through about 600 lbs. of wings alone just on to-go food,” said Fitzgerald.

That’s about 3,200 wings that flew the coup, thousands more didn’t make it out of the restaurant. For Super Bowl LI, Kevin Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald’s Sports Bar in Ballard is ready to sell even more.

“We sold out of chicken wings last year, this year we’ve doubled the order,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald says if you’re cooking wings at home, the key is in the ingredients.

“Jumbo wings, farm chicken wings, fresh never frozen,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald fries his wings first, thoroughly cooking them. Then it’s back into the oil for another 7-10 minutes when the orders come in.

“The best thing is you want them fresh. You want them nice and hot, still crispy when they come out of the fryer,” said Fitzgerald.

Today alone, Americans will eat more than 1.3 billion chicken wings.

“It’s the go to football food. It’s the finger food year-round,” said Fitzgerald.

How spicy those wings are might also explain why viewers will drink 325.5 million gallons of beer.

“It makes the beer go down smoother,” said Fitzgerald.

But let’s face it. Nobody counts the celery.

“Blue cheese the traditional way, we also have ranch.”

It’s all about the sauce

“Get them nice and coated you want to get the sauce on everything.”

That probably includes your face and hands.

“A little extra on top there for luck.”

Good luck America, I think the real winner today is our taste-buds.

On a side note, the Hass Avocado Board estimates 104.9 million pounds of avocados will be made into guacamole for Super Bowl Sunday as well.